


On Your Hands

by deerskull_writes



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), The Yogscast
Genre: Gen, kind of a theory fic? or just what happens between the castle and lalna getting fluxed, nano is mentioned but not actually there, this is circa flux buds 2 btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26712685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deerskull_writes/pseuds/deerskull_writes
Summary: The rush of the water and the sound of the bristles against his skin fade into white noise as he stares blankly at his hands, trying his best to block out everything - the pain, the possibilities, the thoughts of too many voices, the colours blending in together and morphing from purple to dark red, the memories that he shouldn’t remember anymore...
Kudos: 9





	On Your Hands

It’s late at night. The hum of machinery drills into Lalna’s aching head, and at the ripe old time of 3 AM, he decides that it’s time to admit defeat. He’s not getting anywhere fast with these machines, and Nano’s long since gone up to bed, and really there’s only so much conversation one can make with a cat and a robot rabbit to stave off the boredom. All he wants is to just go upstairs and crash into bed, but as he gets up and dusts himself off, he realises just how much dirt, grime and miscellaneous powders and liquids are stained into his lab coat and covering his face and arms. The last time he went into the bedroom like this, Nano immediately woke him up and shoved him out of his bed, commanding him to wash up and take his bedsheets with him, and like the sad little man science has left him that he is, he begrudgingly obeyed and made it a point to not make that mistake again. 

Lalna trudges into the little bathroom in the base, yawning and rubbing at his face as he goes. He takes off his goggles and dumps them in the sink, wincing at the circles around his eyes where there was a complete absence of grime as he looks at himself in the mirror, and even more so at the dark circles under his eyes. With a sigh, he begins to take off his gloves and coat, not entirely paying attention until he throws his gloves into the sink and notices something… purple begin to trickle out from inside of them. 

Lalna stops, and blinks, and suddenly feels a lot more awake. He grabs one of the gloves, immediately recoiling as he sees his hands are covered in the stuff too. Purple, slimy, almost stained into his skin… no, no no no no no he tested this years ago, he’s immune to the Flux, he can’t be tainted, it’s impossible! And they’ve barely been near any recently, right? Well, no, he knows that’s a lie, considering the fact that he’s constantly been around Nano who has been tainted for quite some time now, and the fact that they’ve been exploring his old castle that is now thoroughly infested with Flux for the past week. Maybe some just got into his gloves and was just sitting in there, that has to be it. All he needs to do is wash it off and he’ll be fine. Everything is going to be fine. Don’t worry about it.

He throws his lab coat onto the floor, not wanting to deal with thinking up how to get the taint out of the fabric for now. Lalna flails for a moment, too distracted by his hammering heart and panicked internal ramble to think clearly, before landing his hands on the scrubbing brush he uses to clean his goggles. Turning the tap on hot, he falters, whimpering softly at the mere idea of what he’s about to do. But he has to. He can’t risk getting the taint around the base, and he knows Nano does her fair share of making sure she doesn’t leave traces anywhere. Now he has to do his part.

He doesn’t feel the heat of the hot water immediately, which soon becomes a fleeting relief once he takes the wooden scrubbing brush to his skin. After a few moments, the burning is all he can feel. It’s fine, he mumbles to himself over and over through his wincing expression and teary eyes. He has to get it off, he has to get it away, they can’t have any more taint near them or who knows what might happen, he likes it here, he doesn’t want to have to move again, and what the hell’s going to happen to them if they’re both tainted? He doesn’t want to think about it, but of course his overthinking mind makes him consider every single option. The rush of the water and the sound of the bristles against his skin fade into white noise as he stares blankly at his hands, trying his best to block out everything - the pain, the possibilities, the thoughts of too many voices, the colours blending in together and morphing from purple to dark red, the memories that he shouldn’t remember anymore...

... Until he’s forced to blink, and forced out of his spiral. Lalna retracts his hands from the water, hissing softly as he registers that it now hurts to move, though that’s swiftly shoved to the side as he turns his hands over to check both sides. No blood. No more purple. No more taint. No more danger. Just horribly red skin that he dares to try to ease under the cold tap, biting his lip to avoid making any more noise that could wake Nano up. She doesn’t need to know about this. Though, he should wrap his hands up, just in case. As he reaches up to open the mirrored cabinet to get some bandages, he catches sight of himself, and softly curses himself for not washing his face yet. To be fair, he was preoccupied with something far more important. All Lalna does is quickly take a washcloth to his face then dumps that on the floor with his coat, making a mental note to put both in the clothes basket when he’s done wrapping his hands up.

It takes him a long time, considering what damage he may have just done to his skin, but he’s positive that he’ll be fine by the morning. Sometimes his optimism scares even himself, but that’s okay. Everything’s gonna be fine, so don’t worry about it. That’s what he’s always told himself. He looks at himself in the mirror one last time, and makes himself smile. Can’t go around without that, despite the ordeal he’s just put himself through. Lalna catches himself off guard with a yawn, and realises just how exhausted he still is. Well, there’s nothing left to do but to sleep now, right? Or so he thinks, forgetting his coat on the floor and his goggles and gloves still oozing a little in the sink, but that doesn’t matter. He’s safe now. _They’re_ safe now. 

He ascends to their joined bedroom, his forced smile turned a little genuine as he spots Nano sleeping peacefully, for once. It seems that she might’ve just been tired enough to bypass all those nightmares both of them get so often, though she’s been suffering a lot more due to their escapades in the old castle. But they’d be alright now. Lalna barely manages to push the covers back before crashing down into bed, mumbling a good night as he curls his blankets around himself, his eyes falling heavy and soon enough drifting him away into sleep.

How unfortunate it is, that for all the times he looked at himself, he didn’t catch the flash of his own blue eyes turned a haunting shade of purple in the mirror. As shudders run up his spine and the nightmares he thought he had so cleverly shook away grip tight onto his mind with their clawed hands, tears break through his squeezed-shut eyes, and leave trails of a far too familiar purple as they run down his face.

Despite his best efforts, he had ultimately failed. Again. He should have learned better by now.


End file.
